Gavin: The Very Last Caron...

Out of me anyway...

Two things have happened to me that have NEVER happened EVER in my entire life time:
1) I am now so, SO, SO tired I fall asleep sitting up at the computer or in the car and I don't even realize I've fallen asleep until my arm falls out from under me. Thanks four weeks of hospital bedrest. So. Restful.
2) Sleep right through an alarm. Don't even know it went off until I see it on my phone in the morning.

Luckily in the weeks to follow, I was able to catch back up on some sleep before bringing Gavin home. That was the only good thing about being in the hospital so long!

We officially have a full name! Finally finished that paperwork the very day it was due...

WELCOME, WELCOME 

GAVIN ORION CARON!
                  

     Even though Gavin was born at 33 +2, there wasn't too much to be worried about after the doctors/nurses sated themselves with a battery of tests and roping him into a bunch of support machinery. He only wore his CPAP (heavy duty breathing machinery) for 2 days. Most 33 weekers spend a lot more time in these as breathing is usually the main concern this early in gestation. I breed robust creatures. *Applause* By the end of week 33/beginning week 34 he was taken off all the equipment save a feeding tube. It's been hard going back and forth between home and the hospital. Jaxen needs me. Gavin needs me. How am I supposed to split my time effectively? At this point Gavin still sleeps a lot (really hope he continues to be a great sleeper when we go home) so I'm hoping that excuses some of my absence. I've been shooting for an overnight every other day.

     One thing I've been really struggling with is my milk supply. It was barely there for about 2 weeks post surgery. I have postulated that this may be largely due to premature birth, birth by unnatural means (c-section), under eating, drugs, extra energy devoted to healing and stress on my body from a combination of everything. I started some acupuncture week 34 to help with all of these things. So far, so good. Even though we've been working on breast feeding since he came out (because he's a real rooter...you can't even deny this kid) it hasn't been until this past week (35) that he's gotten a solid latch and several successful 6mL-12mL feedings. It's hard work and I don't often get more than 5-10minutes at a time out of him but that's typical of kids his age. Since I'm with him every other night I try to be there for the 5pm, 8pm...get some sleep (but wake up to pump at 2am) then again at 5am and 8am feedings. Some days I can stay later and get the 11am in but most I have to get back for Jaxen. Ben's been doing his best to be there for us but it's been hard and his vacation time is ticking away. By the time we bring Gavin home he may not have much left.

    The good news about week 35 is that we finally introduced bottle feeds and my milk supply is on the rise! (Delayed due to steroid shot given upon admittance to hospital week 28. A little known side effect but one I now preach to the world because I hate to see moms who've been through so much give up on breastfeeding.) We need him to gain weight and learn to feed effectively without the tube so we can bring him home! Gavin needs to be taking about 70% of his nutrition from bottle feeds before we can take out the feeding tube (NOT a gtube BTW.) As much as I can't wait to bring him home, I have been appreciating the extra help the nurses have been. I've been able to get more rest at night since I don't have to be up every couple of hours nursing yet and it's nice to not have to deal with two kids when I've been in such pain from the surgery. Although the doc said I was healing up nicely at my two week check up the other day, she thought it a little strange that I still am on most of my pain killers because I'm experiencing more discomfort than is normal. She wrote it off as me just being overly active since I can't just sit and rest...I have a two year old. I hope that's all it is and nothing is permanently wrong forever. I can't even look at the incision. It looks awful with all this weight still hanging on it and I'm horrified it'll be awful looking forever too. I'm hoping post partum week three brings me better luck with the ability to take short walks every day...if not for Sierra's sake than my own. Fingers crossed. I did about a mile today (very slowly with Jaxen) and am feeling it in a bad way. I really need to get rid of all this extra weight. I am fretting about having to lose about still having 26 lbs to lose.

     By the time week 36 rolled around I was starting to get ancy and emotional about getting Gavin home. It's a similar feeling I had with Jaxen (but that came on day three instead of week three of our hospital stay.) My instinct says he's ready. Unfortunately the numbers don't yet. I am feeling my best yet this week and have even taken up walking again; a few days with Jaxen and a few days with the dog. The dog walks have left me a little sore but I've been a little sore anyways now that I'm completely off my pain meds. They had to go, the side effects were starting to outweigh the benefits.

     It's week 37(+4) and WE ARE GOING HOME!!!!!! YES!!!!!! I knew he was close. I juuuuust knew it. Week 37 began with a bang as far as feeding and alert time went. All off a sudden I had a 15min per side nurser instead of sleepy 5 minute one sided nurser. All of a sudden he spent three hours between feedings perfectly awake and alert. He passed the room air challenge with flying O2s. The car seat challenge was again an issue and we went home on O2s but only use them in the car seat.

OCT 7th 2015 

BABY GAVIN CAME HOME!

Yay home! (Booo...help-less, sleepless nights...)

In case you missed it...here are my trials and tribulations during my extended hospital stay.

The Adventures of Hospital Bedrest Part II

....Continued

        It has been in the back of my mind this whole pregnancy that maybe I should have gone to see a different OB for a second opinion. I never did. Not because I didn't want to but because I had been reassured by both the doctor who examined Jaxen's placenta, my OB at University Hospital and by my midwives that the chance of preterm delivery for second baby was very low and had I been in any of their care for this pregnancy they would not have had me do anything differently. If you recall, Jaxen was early due to a micro placental abruption (separation of placenta from uterine wall). They actually had to break my water with him because it wouldn't break. This [pProm] is 100% unrelated. My water totally broke and has been leaking ever since. Nothing like getting peed on every time I stand up or change positions. (That's was amniotic fluid is BTW...baby pee.) Yum.
   

   At 32 weeks I was sent in for another growth ultrasound. That very day my OB told me that if I had been in her care she would have put me on progesterone based on the sole fact that Jaxen was early. That made me feel awful. I was miserable and on the brink of tears the whole ultrasound even though everything was looking great and baby was now measuring 4lbs 6oz (enough to clear him of a prolonged NICU stay if he had no other issues!!!) While I was waiting for the Neonatologist to come in and discuss the ultrasound findings, I could barely hold myself together. I just had to ask her about Jaxen and what she personally would have done for my care this time around. First bringing to light that hindsight is 20/20, she confessed that had I been in her care for this pregnancy she probably would not have done anything differently. I thanked her profusely for that bit of comfort and continued on with my day, content in knowing there wasn't really anything that could have been done differently.
      My many weeks on hospital bed rest have been difficult. This is not just because I have a severe need to be active and find TV/movies to be totally boring but because I totally missed out on the last month where it's just me n' Jax. From now on I'm a shared commodity. I will miss all those days when it's just been the two of us even though I'm excited that baby2 will be joining us on our adventures. These weeks have also made me so grateful for all the wonderful people who stepped in to help, be it Grandma's who took shifts taking care of Jaxen, neighbors lending a helping hand, my super excellent group of friends, neighbors and husband all who took the time to come out and visit me bringing real food, flowers, game nights and just plain being with me giving my otherwise long, boring days meaning. So just as I was getting used to the idea of having 7 days left on bedrest to coordinate remaining baby-prep tasks, guess who decided to join the party...
     This kid means business. First he kicks rupture the protective membranes surrounding him at 28 weeks. Then this. Six am on September 7th (33weeks, 2 days) brought so minor contractions (pain at a 1 or 2) which I treated temporarily by chugging down 1.5L of water. By 6:45 they were back but more to the tune of 3. I decided it was time to at least call a nurse. So glad Margie (one of my midwives) was on shift! She put me on the monitor which picked up steady contractions that peaked much differently on the graph than any I'd had before. Seven a.m.: I called Ben. He was quick to get on his way but at that point the plan was to watch me for an hour before doing anything else. I appeared to be 2cm dilated at that time. By the time he got to me, I was having to breath through contractions. From the get go they'd been 2-3min apart. At 8 a.m. I was 4-5cm dilated. Eight thirty/nine rolled around and I was beginning to howl through them unsure of how much longer I could hold out. They were also turning into an urge to push which the doctors were telling me to fight (adding to the pain) because they weren't ready for me in surgery yet. The anesthesiologist hadn't even arrived and I was cursing every second he wasn't there. What a relief that I never had to do this at home. (I now see I was a terrible candidate for home birth and I'm so, so, so ok with that. At this point making it out alive sounded really good.) Everyone seemed to be scrambling around at this point. When he did finally arrive we booked it to the OR. I was in so much agony at that point he could barely get me into a good position and thus the spinal failed. While I managed to get a touch of relief on my left side, I got absolutely none on my right. (The poked me with the knives to test their theory. Super glad they did.) The next step is usually a full epidural...well time was out. I was dilated 8cm. Ben was standing behind me holding my hand all smurfed out in his scrubs. I remember them hoisting up a blue fabric panel over my abdomen...squinting up at the OR lights...a triangle mask on my face but no one telling me what it was for or what was going on. Voices merged into one babbling brook of background noise somewhere in the far, far distance.              

I awaken to quite voices. A bunch of people are urging me to move off the surgical bed and onto the one in my room. An unwelcome and uncomfortable proposition. This is a much different experience than on the day Jaxen was born. No magical skin to skin contact immediately after being born or those first lungfuls of life squealed with such vigor. Instead, Mr. Gavin Caron born at 10am on September 7th at 5lbs 11oz is tucked quietly into his private NICU unit about 5 steps from my bed. He is perfect, he is strong, he is calm and he is beautiful.

The Adventures of Hospital Bedrest Part I

         The second saddest day of my life happened August 8th 2015 around 5:30pm while I was lounging on the couch watching TV. My water broke. I was only 28 weeks 7 days. At first I thought I had just lost control of my bladder for a second there but then when I realized what it really was a ran hysterically in tears down to Ben's office in the basement. NOT. THIS. AGAIN. And even earlier than with Jaxen which is a super big deal. A night or two before this happened I'd had a bit of melt down as Ben and I were climbing into bed for the night. I was uncomfortable and I felt like my body just couldn't do it anymore. I had no idea it would turn into...THIS.

         We got our midwife on the phone right away and she said she'd meet us at the office to test the discharge for amniotic fluid. After that conversation, I hurriedly stuffed some items in a bag for the hospital. By that time it was time to get Jaxen up from nap and we all piled into the car and headed to her office. The whole trip there I was silently trying to convince myself that I really had lost control of my bladder and it would all be fine. By the time we got there I was actually feeling ok about the situation. I handed over the vile of fluid, our midwife pulled out some litmus paper and stuck it in. It turned dark blue for the presence of amniotic fluid immediately. Panic was returning but I tried to keep as calm as I could on the outside so as not to upset Jaxen. Straight to Boulder Foothills Hospital we went not realizing they had a cut off age for when their equipment could best support preemies. It was 30 weeks but they did admit me to start me on mega doses of magnesium to stop the mild but steady contractions and to protect babies vital organs in case I did deliver that night or soon after. The official diagnosis pProm or preterm prelabor rupture of membranes. They also gave me steroid shots in the butt to help his lungs develop more quickly. When I finally recovered from my magnesium funk with accompanied scary low blood pressure dive, the doc called up an ambulance and had me transferred to University Hospital in Aurora where the care for babies born 26-28 weeks is the best in the state.
         So my first ambulance ride ever was thankfully uneventful. When I finally was delivered to my room at UCH it was probably 2am. Nice facility but very by the book as one might expect from a teaching hospital. Before I could even think about hitting the hay they had to do fetal monitoring (NST), administer anti-biotics, check my vitals. All of this every four hours for vitals and every six for antibiotics. Fine. I get that. I accept that. Anything to stop from having a 29 weeker because those guys are still in the danger zone. However, frequent check ins continued to occur even when I was done with the medication. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO HAVE A HEALTHY IMMUNE SYSTEM WHEN I AM SO SLEEP DEFICIENT? At least the the food was great and the staff was also very friendly if not somewhat inexperienced (more on this next paragraph.) My OB was an interesting man somewhere in the midst of his thirties. Although I didn't love his by the book approach (he basically laughed at me when I suggested safe & viable alternatives to prevent major abdominal surgery...) he came off as intelligent with a good sense of humor and a super informal bedside manner that I really appreciated. But bottom line, OBs are surgeons and surgeons like to cut people. His plan for me was to get me to 34 weeks then cut because of the breech position of this baby. Due to the lack of amniotic fluid, he felt there was 0% chance this baby would flip before than regardless of what I tried (e.g spinning babies). My growth ultrasound at 29 weeks confirmed the breech position but put baby at 3lbs 10oz and they described him as robust and well developed for his age. (I'm certain that this, at least is a product of my super healthy life style and also the 100g of protein minimum intake I shoot for every day.) The week was mostly uneventful except for a tornado evacuation and the IV debacle.
         On my last night my IV was past due for changing and they needed "updated" blood samples. For the record, I am incredibly vascular and no one has EVER had trouble drawing blood or placing an IV in me. That night, the nurse came in with her battery of needles and IV paraphernalia. Immediately I got the tremors. I always get the tremors when they're about to do some medical procedure on me. My old IV was still in my right arm so she decided to try my left. After shoving the needle around under my skin for awhile (it reminded me of when you see abdominal liposuction done on TV...) she finally got to collect some blood but then I had a blow out so she couldn't use the same spot for the IV. She didn't even collect enough blood for the sample to be viable. I was uncomfortable with some anxiety but willing to let them try again. Still with the tremors though. (People always mistake that for me being cold but...it's really just latent terror.) She tried the other arm. Stab, stab, stab, stab....nothing. At this point I was starting to have a full on anxiety attack because it really hurt and I am super squeamish about needles. Always have been. She calls another nurse. That nurse tries with the same stabbing effort to no avail. At that point I was so distressed that the baby (who was on the monitor the whole time) starting looking distressed. Keep in mind that prior to this incident he always looked beautiful on the monitor. Best looking baby on the whole floor they said! Meanwhile Ben took the nurse into the hallway and insisted that she be done trying for the night. She agreed although in my imagination it was only very reluctantly. But now since the baby was distressed they had to do another pelvic exam because they thought the cord was caught in my cervix opening or something weird like that. Let me stop you there because 1) my cervix was still closed as of a few days ago with no contractions working to open it and 2) baby's distress couldn't possibly have anything to do with MY distress...could it? Nurse and docs alike weren't even willing to fathom that THEY'D caused this. No, no it was quite the failing of my own body. Cutting to the chase, I passed the exam with flying colors and as soon as I calmed down, baby calmed down. As you can imagine, after that ordeal and the general inflexibility of the staff to let me rest and be well, I was only too happy to hear I was approved for transfer back to Boulder.
         PAUSE. The question that continues to haunt me is this: Why do I suck at having babies? I'm THE healthiest person I know.  I've gone out of my way for many years to make this the cleanest vessel possible for babies to live in. I've bombarded all the doctors, at all the hospitals with this question, provided detailed accounts of my life style and no one can even come up with even a guess. I think other people (non-hospital people) like to blame it on my activity level but that's pure non-sense. Plenty of people continue exercising at the same level or harder than I was (e.g. many CrossFit moms). I was only working at half the capacity I was at the same time when I was carrying Jaxen...that would be roughly 25% of what I'm normally capable of. I know my limits and I scaled appropriately to how I was feeling. That said, I have my own theory. My body has been somewhat temperamental for a good portion of my older life. (Thanks Lyme disease?) Could it be that it just hates being pregnant? I seem to have a harder time with it just in general than all other moms I know. This problem didn't occur until I reached the same weight and largeness I was when I went into labor with Jaxen so could that be my breaking point? Unfortunately I reached it sooner with this baby because I didn't watch what I ate and I reduced my activity level much sooner. Bad combination.
       At 30+2, I took my second ambulance ride back to Boulder where I was immediately welcomed back by the same relaxed (as in, NOT by the book) and friendly staff who had first admitted me. They were all about unhooking me from the machines, not stabbing me over and over with needles and letting me get a full night sleep based on the fact that all my monitoring results had been so good.  (Yes, they left me alone all night but I really haven't slept more than 3 or 4 hours on given night I've been here...) My doctor here even said she would attempt an external version (turning the baby) before wheeling me into surgery! She encouraged me to practice the spinning babies exercises to help him turn! Finally, someone who treated me as an individual and not the lowest common denominator. Instead of a window view of Colfax, I was looking straight at the Colorado foothills with an excellent sunset view. Yes, everything here was better except the food, which is a weird concept for being in Boulder.

Click here for  Part II!

Summer Highlights 2015

June

• 6/8 - Progressively reorganizing room to accommodate a twin mattress and so that Jaxen can't kick the shared wall. Check.
• 6/16 - Begin sippy cup of milk instead of bottle for night time only. (FAIL -- several nights in a row) Might have to go cold turkey...
• Totally loves splashing about in any body of water!
• First month of being away from home T/R 9:30am-1:30pm. The first two weeks were the toughest. Lots of crying and separation anxiety. Third week was a charm!
• Intermittent before 7am wakings  :(

July

• First week of July: decrease nap and night bottle from 8 to 6 oz for two weeks.
• Sleeping great!
• Third week of July: nap/night bottle dropped from 6oz to 4oz
• Doing so well at Komundia's house!
• Intermittent skipping of nap time due to low energy expenditure days? I'm getting too tired to do a lot of our regular walks, outdoor things together.
• Practicing Swim Otters skills at the pool and he is loving it! He'll even jump in from the top step into my arms!
• Surprise visit to MT for Gma's birthday!

August

• Was going to bottle wean but couldn't bare to give up the snuggle time.
• Finally learned to say NO in the proper context. It's super cute but annoying. 
• Lots of words but still babbles a lot too.
• Calls himself "Dakin" <3 
•  8/8 - Landed myself in the hospital. AGAIN. Stay tuned for more details on the next blog.

Mr. Magoo Turns TWO & 20 Week Ultrasound!

MARCH

We are so thankful to be out of that DREADFUL February weather where we were snowed (or frozen in) in almost every day for 3 weeks! Back to the mid 60s and low 70s. Every day of every winter should exhibit such fine qualities.

Wolf Creek (Happy Birthday Me)
I had originally planned this trip to be a ride hard, drink hard, sit in the hot springs for HOURS kind of birthday celebration but unfortunately my little green olive had different ideas. We did get one day of spring riding in but fished the second day (caught some dinner too!) The place we stayed at was marvelous! I can't wait to rent it again (in two years.) *SIGH*

• Jaxen likes to walk around humming to himself.
• Still fights nap in the rare occasion but of course I always win.
• Plays with other children! Finally! 

APRIL

First Check Up With Melissa (the midwife)
Yep. Going that route again. Maybe this time I will be able to have the home birth of my dreams. Heart rate 160-170bpm! Measuring 10cm! Everything sounds good for baby #2!!

BACK TO FL!

This time we stayed in Naples with our GG's. We had a good time at the beach and the zoo but the weather wasn't good so we had to be inside a lot. Luckily we had the tablet! Travel was rough though. I can't say I'll be traveling very far alone with him again but at least being two he'll have to have his own seat now.

First day with no nap ever this month. He slept over time the next couple days to make up for it. Still, he fights nap time a little more frequently than before. It's happened a handful of times especially on our airplane travel days. I've just moved his nap later to 3pm and that seems to work ok.

Not eating more than two bites of anything. Mostly fruit, cheese and yogurt :(

MAY

• I thought we'd start getting rid of the bottle by now but no. Why ruin a good thing? Perhaps his real birthady (EDD was late June) will see better luck.
• Mimicking sentences.
• Summersaults? Not sure where he got the idea to attempt them but they're happening!
• Still in the pack n play....dreading the change to real bed. Why ruin a good thing?
• Still not eating great. Slightly better.
• Trying to use the potty around diaper change times. It's not a consistent effort but I don't want to force anything at the moment. We have enough disagreements as it is.
• Being inside all day because of all the rain is kiiillllllliiiinnnnnnggggg US.

Here are some May photos.

34.5 inches tall & 28.7 lbs!!

20 Week Ultra Sound!!!!

Nom, nom HAND.

IT'S A.....................

YES! Team blue again! I'm psyched! Boys are so cool. More importantly, a great weight has been lifted; he has all his parts and pieces in working order. This guy is a mover and a shaker like Jaxen (if you recall his nick name was Taz before we settled on Jaxen) but I don't remember feeling him as early as 12 weeks like I have with this one. Maybe I just know how it goes the second time around.

There is tremendous joy in knowing this is the last baby. (Permanent methods will be employed.)

VOTE FOR A FIRST NAME HERE! (Amended name poll.)

Lastly, I have a lot to do before baby2 comes and not a lot of energy. You may not hear from me until AFTER dude arrives in September, October, November (?)

Month 21 Love Ya A Ton!

December 2014

• Building with blocks instead of demolishing!
• If you listen carefully Jaxen will attempt to repeat your words.
• Had a no nap scare mid-month. For two weeks he talked/cried for 2 hours before falling asleep. We stuck with it and by month's end he was back to regular naps (2pm).
• I'm sure you've seen the videos on Facebook but man, this guy really loves to clean. Pitches a fit if I don't open the broom closet for him almost every day.
• Going down the slide all by himself! Thanks Uncle Ryan and Aunt Kasey!
• Jaxen is also finally getting better at sitting down in our laps and reading books with us. As soon as this behavior really becomes solid, I'll think about bottle-weaning him. I've kept it a part of our routine for this long because of teething too. When teeth are coming, he doesn't really eat much but he always will drink a bottle so at least he's getting some fat and protein during that time. Keeps the [major] hANGRY-ness at bay. The master plan is to replace bottle time (before nap and bed) with sippy cup of milk and story time.

Xmas
What an xmas we had! Soooooooooooo many gifts! We decided to host this year and GmaJ/Gpa Steve came, Uncle Rory & Aunt Michelle and Gma Sylvia/Gpa Paul all joined too! Jaxen had a great time ripping through all that paper. Never mind the piles and piles of toys he got. In fact, it took Jaxen TWO DAYS to open all his gifts! Thank you everyone for sending such wonderful things.

January 2015

• FIRST MOLARS HERE WE COME! Finally but regretfully. BEAST JAXEN is back.
• Repeating things you say but most often saying: thank you, sockies, doggie, duckies, do this, do that, diaper and up.
• First multi over night stay with Gma Julie & Gpa Steve was a........ HUGE SUCCESS!!!!!!!!! *phew* Thanks again for giving us a huge break.
• Begin tantrums.

New Years:
For New Years we drove down to Canon City to visit with Gma Sylvia & Gpa Paul along with all Jaxen's cousins and aunt's and uncles. The kids had a fabulous time playing together inside and out. There was on and off snowfall there so they all were able to go sledding down the drive way. One of the days a few people went snowboarding at Monarch but it was only 12 degrees and a blizzard the whole 2.5 hour drive so I decided to hang back. A giant thanks to the GPs for putting up with us all!

Florida & Puerto Rico Trip:
   We had an early flight out to Florida but Jaxen did great on the plane and we got back to the house just in time for nap. That plus a direct flight = good plan. Two days later Ben and I left Jaxen w/ Gma J and Gpa Steve to go off to Puerto Rico.
   I have always been skeptical about vacationing in Puerto Rico due to a cruise experience in San Jaun (a city like any other on planet) boooooooo. I saw no beaches and no turquoise sea.  It wasn't until we finally drove the two hours and made it to Isabela on the northwest coast that I let out a sigh of relief. No cities. No crowds. No shopping. Just a whole lot of single car wide roads, beaches,  azure seas for miles and overgrown tropical plant-ness covering everything. We stayed with an artist and his wife who rent out a little studio off the back part of their house. For $75/night we had all we needed from our own bathroom, an outdoor shower, microwave, coffee maker, mini fridge and abstract art all over the walls to discuss each night before going to bed. They had an amazing location just a few minutes walk from a great surfing beach and restaurants galore yet still with a jungle-y feel to it.
  The first day we had a beach and town exploration day. It was kinda cool and rainy and we got caught in a down pour at least once. The second day we drove on those 1 car wide roads into the jungle with hair pin turns, traffic coming the opposite direction and a steep cliff dropping off to one side for most of the ride. San Sebastian Falls were first on the agenda. It was a super short hike to them where we ate some lunch and did some rope swinging. The down pour began as we were hiking down but we forged ahead with our plans to hike to cave of the winds. The third day we snorkeled at one of the best spots we've been to so far at Shacks beach. The fourth day we had another beach day because I'm a brat. Just laying out collecting all that vitamin D, a lil snorkeling and exploring the beach around the corner. The weather really improved the last couple days! No rain, and 85-90* F weather! Too bad it was time to leave. This place was great and totally worth a longer trip sometime.
  When we got back, Jaxen was happy to see us but had evidently been saving up all his fussiness for us because the week's report was nothing but good. He did very well and hardly gave Gma/Gpa and hard time at all. Unfortunately, the weather in FL had taken a turn for the worst and it was cloudy and cool for the last couple days we were there. We didn't get any beach in or any more swimming in the pool either.

THIS TRIP WAS SO NEEDED. I CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH MOM & STEVE.

Click here for our trip photos!

Other January photos here.

 

February 2015

Having a toddler is such a great reminder that the world is in fact interesting. With Jaxen, it's like a step back in time when all we had to do each day was be outside. A magical time with no cell phones peeping and beeping in everyone's pocket, no Facebook notifications pining for our attention and no half assed verbal conversations with the person standing next to you while simultaneously texting someone else. In short he's reminded me to put the damn thing down and leave it alone for several hours a day. (That's probably why you can hardly ever get ahold of me.) Once I got the hang of it, I found [find] it ultra refreshing. I'm trying to savor this time in his life because I know one day he'll go careening off the edge of this peaceful place into miasma of artificial and electronic everything. Hopefully by then, I'll have my "NO CELL ELECTRONICS AT THE DINNER TABLE" sign.

Notes:

• Requiring less sleep. A 845pm bedtime will yield a 645-7am wake time. Naps are still great but happen a little earlier at 1:30-4/430pm. The length of nap will determine how early he's up the next morning.
• FINALLY JAXEN LOVES SWIM LESSONS!!!!!! YESSSSS!!!!! He's doing so great. Kicking, swimming the wall, swimming to floating and vice versa.
• Struck down with our first Winter of '15 cold. All of us. I guess that's what you get when you host a playdate where 6/8 kids are sick. 
• Slowly expanding on his words but they still aren't super clear. I often have to think about what he just said to piece it together.
• If I had time to sit down and write my thoughts about measles this is EXACTLY how it would come out.

Click here for February photos!

In case you haven't heard............

26.5lbs                                                 33" tall

Next stop: JAXEN TURNS TWO!!!!!!!